St Pierre proposes ball diamond and recreation tax

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This article was published 02/04/2025 (358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The new recreation and culture levy should not raise taxes. That is what the mayor of St-Pierre-Jolys told the crowd gathered for the March 19 council meeting and public hearing on the new $327 per housing unit tax.

“It was mill rate before, so now it’s getting taken off the mill rate and put on as a levy,” said Mayor Raymond Maynard.

“The reason for that is the mill rate was on assessed portion. And two, everybody that you talk to in the town says our mill rate’s too high, and this was a way to help lower the mill rate.”

Council passed first reading of the new levy. It now goes to the municipal board for approval.

Each dwelling unit would be charged $327 starting with this year’s municipal property taxes. It would go up five percent per year after that, with the levy needing renewal by council every four years.

The result would be more dense residential properties would pay more recreation tax. A single-family home would pay $327 this year. A duplex would pay twice that or $654. A new 36-unit apartment would pay 36 times that, or $11,772.

“So if your assessment is over $257,600, you’re actually going to see a reduction in your whole tax,” said Maynard.

The five percent increase per year is to cover inflation and make some repairs, according to CAO Tina Bubenzer.

“There’s some repairs that need to be done to the splash pad,” she said.

Bubenzer added the splash heads will cost at least $4,000 each.

A new community services coordinator will be hired and replace the work done by the Rat River Commission that St Pierre will no longer use with the RM of De Salaberry.

“This $171,000 (raised village-wide by the levy) is purely what’s going on in the park and what’s going on with this community development position,” said Bubenzer.

The proposed levy will cover expenses at the Parc Carillon which includes the splash pad, campground, park shelter, baseball diamonds, trails, signage and insurance.

It will also fund the Jolys Regional Library, currently a 50-50 cost share with De Salaberry, and Crow Wing Trail membership.

A new fairgrounds baseball capital project in partnership with the Rat River Rebels has also been included.

That is planned to be paid for at least in part with fundraising from the ball club. The ball diamond would be on land from the local Catholic parish outside of the village to the west off Provincial Road 205.

“The RM did not want to be part. We approached them. Specifically why we wanted to approach them is it’s in the RM, so we thought that would be a perfect project for us to do together because one, they would be getting the taxes when it was built and two, something that’s close to St Pierre would be good for all the kids,” said Maynard.

“They chose to say no and go to St Malo to do their own.”

A proposed contract between the St Malo Catholic parish and De Salaberry was not passed last month by De Salaberry council, which chose to continue negotiations on using the land of a former diamond by the grotto off Highway 59.

Every public speaker was on board for the recreation and culture levy replacing their share of the general mill rate. The new ball diamond outside of village boundaries did draw the ire of a few in the crowd.

Maynard said there are 183 baseball players from the RM and village.

“This project is not all about just having baseball diamonds. It’s about creating economic development for our community as well. It’s the spin-offs of having families going to eat at Lucky Luc’s, going to the grocery store,” said Bubenzer.